If you’ve been in Liverpool over the last couple of months it will have been hard to miss the city’s excitement. Cunard, one of the world’s most famous shipping lines, is celebrating their 175th anniversary right here in their home city and, like everything Cunard does, they’re doing it in style. The Three Queens (Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 2) made their magnificent entry to the city on 25 May, but Cunard’s beginnings 175 years ago were on a slightly smaller scale.

The paddle steamer PS Britannia was the first ship of the Cunard line, with accommodation for 115 cabin passengers and about 225 tons of cargo. Her maiden voyage began 175 years ago this weekend on 4 July 1840. On her first crossing she carried only 64 passengers, including among them the shipping line’s founder, Samuel Cunard, and his daughter.

Britannia would have been completely dwarfed by the Three Queens, however at the time she was so large that passengers had to be taken aboard by a steam ferry while she anchored out in the Mersey. None of Liverpool’s embarkation berths could then accommodate so large a ship.

Cunard is now known of course for its luxury and comfortable crossings but one famous passenger was less than impressed by his time aboard Britannia. In 1842, Charles Dickens crossed from Liverpool to Boston and gave a somewhat unfavourable account of the voyage, describing his state room as:

It is fair to say that the Britannia was certainly smaller and less lavish than the liners who followed her but she was in fact luxurious by the standards of ships of her day. Improvements in comfort and efficiency were constantly being made though and in 1867 Dickens again travelled with Cunard, this time on the Russia, and seems to have had a better experience.

“The ship was fragrant with flowers and bubbles pervaded the nose”

All these later ships though, from the ‘fragrant’ Russia to today’s magnificent Queens, have followed in Britannia’s wake. She made 40 Atlantic crossings in total and held the honour of being the first ship to be entrusted with the transatlantic mail. Most significantly though, Britannia marked the beginning of one of the world’s most famous and successful shipping lines.

From today you can see a beautiful model of the Britannia at the Maritime Museum as part of our new display celebrating 175 years of Cunard crossing the Atlantic in style.

In addition to this new display we’ve got lots of other free events over the next two days as part of the Transatlantic 175 weekend celebrating the return of the Queen Mary 2 to Liverpool. You can also explore Cunard’s many connections to the city with our trail – pick up a copy when you visit or download the Cunard 175 trail (pdf).

The Battle of Waterloo was the decisive point in a long and drawn out conflict between Britain and France. The wars with France had been fought both on land and at sea. For port cities like Liverpool attacks by the French Navy and government-approved privateers, had hugely affected shipping trade. Many enemy ships had been captured and often French prisoners of war held captive locally, would number over a thousand.

Merseyside Maritime Museum has 39 miniature ship models thought to have been made by some of these French prisoners in Liverpool, it’s one of the largest museum collections of prisoner of war models. The tiny models are incredibly detailed and sometimes it is difficult to imagine how such exquisite, delicate objects could have been made in such difficult conditions as Great Howard Street Gaol. It is a privilege to be able to show four of the models as part of the display in the Museum of Liverpool and in such a way that the public can get a very close view of them. The Waterloo Lives display will be on the first floor of the Museum until 24 October 2015.”

Are you stuck for something to do with the kids this half term? You could take a trip on the Mersey ferry Snowdrop on 27-31 May, which has been transformed with a fantastic dazzle inspired artwork designed by Sir Peter Blake. Dazzle was a scheme created in the First World War which saw Allied ships painted in outlandish designs to make them more difficult to target by enemy U-boats.

Wilkinson developed the dazzle program operated by the Admiralty, and the original models were used by Wilkinson’s team to test the effectiveness of the dazzle design in confusing enemy U-boats on the speed and course of a ship. Models were painted by a special team (mostly women, but such was the secrecy around the project that we know little about them) at the Royal Academy in London. They were then tested on a special turntable and viewed against different backgrounds and from different angles. Approved designs were transferred to a scaled plan, and used by teams of painters across the country (including in Liverpool) to dazzle paint Merchant and Royal Navy vessels. The team in Liverpool was headed by Edward Wadsworth and Leonard Campbell Taylor, who were based in room 229 of the Royal Liver Building.

…to this!

Chris and David built these models from scratch with only a few reference photos as a guide. First they had to source scale plans to replicate the hull shapes and deck features of the particular class of ship represented by the models. Starting with a rectangular block of Jelutong wood (a hardwood with similar properties to balsa), they had to use old fashioned tools and state of the art equipment to shape the wood blocks in order to recreate the ships shape and form.

Every individual deck feature such as masts, guns and wheel houses (and every one to scale!) then had to be created individually and carefully glued into place. Then the real fun started – recreating the dazzle design! With only a few profile photos to go off, Chris and Dave had to use their judgement and also a little creativity in order to painstakingly recreate the dazzle designs across the ship models.

The results are extraordinary, beautiful, and yes, dazzling, and a fitting tribute to Norman Wilkinson and his team. You can see more photos of Chris and Dave creating these models in our ‘Making model dazzle ships’ Flickr album.

]]>http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2015/05/be-dazzled-in-half-term/feed/0Help bring the Mauretania home to Liverpoolhttp://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2015/04/mauretania-a-big-scouse-boat/
http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2015/04/mauretania-a-big-scouse-boat/#commentsMon, 27 Apr 2015 09:06:41 +0000http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/?p=7855Liverpool writer George Garrett worked in the boiler rooms of Mauretania and called the ship “a big scouse boat”. Mauretania and her sister ship Lusitania, were the true ‘Monarchs of the Sea’ and were later affectionately known in Liverpool as ‘Maury’ and ‘Lucy’.

Mauretania was built by Swan Hunter of Newcastle for the Cunard Line and was one of their most successful liners. Cunard and its ships were a central part of Liverpool’s maritime story and the firm was based in the city. Cunard’s 1916 headquarters are one of the most recognisable buildings on the city’s waterfront and one of the iconic three graces.

Mauretania was a Liverpool ship through and through. She was a familiar sight at the landing stage and a link between Liverpool and New York, claiming the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing – a record that she held for decades. Her crew were drawn from the streets around Liverpool’s waterfront communities and many of the city’s seafarers served their time at sea with her.

Her career is explored in the museum through a range of objects, including a vibrant painting in the Lusitania: life, loss, legacy exhibition showing ‘Maury’ in dazzle colours and in the painting Modern Liverpool by Walter Richards which is on display in the Titanic and Liverpool: the untold story exhibition. Modern Liverpool shows ‘Maury’ docking at the Liverpool landing stage, no doubt carrying excited passengers on a transatlantic adventure!

One of my favourite things about being a museum curator is finding new objects for the Merseyside Maritime Museum collection and one of the collections I am responsible for is the ship models.

The ship model collection is one of the most important at the Museum and the variety represented is vast, ranging from passenger ships to fishing craft. Ship models help to play an important role in recording and explaining Liverpool’s maritime history. These vessels were crucial to the life of the city through trade and passenger travel.

The model of Mauretania coming up for auction is an incredible record of one of Liverpool’s most iconic and best loved ships. These vessels helped to shape the city’s identity as a unique Atlantic passenger port. The men and women who worked at sea identified themselves with ships like Mauretania and created much of the character of the city. It would be great if we could bring her back to her home.

Sir Peter Blake, patron of the John Moores Painting Prize, on the Snowdrop dazzle ferry

This morning the dazzled Mersey ferry Snowdrop, painted with an amazing dazzle inspired design by Sir Peter Blake, sailed across the river for the first time. From the fantastic reaction of the commuters, tourists and press on board today it looks set to become a popular attraction on the river.

There’s more to the dazzle ferry than the colourful exterior though, as Merseyside Maritime Museum curator Ben Whittaker has co-curated an on board exhibition with Tate Liverpool. The displays explore the history of dazzle in the First World War and Liverpool’s war at sea, linking with the museum’s own Lusitania exhibition and featuring a number of photos of wartime dazzle ships from the Maritime Archives. This project continues National Museums Liverpool’s collaboration with Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool and 14-18Now, after the dazzle inspired design was applied to the Edmund Gardner ship last year.

The ferry exhibition features two models made specially by our ship and historic models conservators Chris Moseley and David Parsons. Each model is a reproduction of a dazzled model made by Norman Wilkinson in 1917, held in the Imperial War Museum collections. Wilkinson developed the dazzle program operated by the Admiralty, and the original models were used by Wilkinson’s team to test the effectiveness of the dazzle design in confusing enemy U-boats on the speed and course of a ship. Approved designs were transferred to a scaled plan, and used by teams across the country (including in Liverpool) to dazzle paint Merchant and Royal Navy vessels.

Chris and David built these models from scratch with only a few reference photos to go off – sourcing scale plans to replicate the hull shapes and deck features, and painstakingly recreating the dazzle designs. The results are, well, dazzling! Keep a look out for a forthcoming blog post that will look at the models in more depth.

But hang on a minute, just imagine the preparation and planning that goes into moving a very large (6 metres long, 1 metre wide, 1 metre tall), heavy (over half a ton), old (built in 1910), fragile (some parts are made from paper and card), and valuable object like this! For the last few months, colleagues from across divisions (Registration, Curatorial, Estates Management, Ship and Historic Models Conservation, Ship Keeping and Engineering, Exhibitions, Visitor Services) have been working hard on putting in place the logistics to ensure that the model was moved in the best and safest way possible:

The Ship and Historic Models conservation team at work

Stage one

First, the gallery had to be closed off and a safe working area established around the model. Then the huge case built around the model had to be carefully dismantled and moved up piece by piece to the second floor. Next a specially made crate was built around the model, again piece by piece as it was so big. When that was ready the whole first floor of the museum had to be closed so that the crated model could be carefully moved through to the end of the building.

Stage two

The only way to move the model up a floor is to take it out of a large window at the end of the building. A doorway had to be temporarily dismantled to allow this, and a huge gantry erected on scaffolding built outside the window. The model was carefully moved onto the gantry. Next the model was carefully lifted down by crane onto the ground, whilst the height of the scaffold was increased up to the second floor window. Then, the model was lifted back up onto the gantry, rolled into the building, placed into position on gallery and unpacked from the crate.

Craning the model out

Stage three

Our Historic Models Conservation team then spent a few days checking the ship model for any damage and giving it a bit of a spring clean before the case was erected back up around the model, and the gallery will open again tomorrow, on Saturday 15 November.

This kind of project relies on the skills and experience of many people and departments across National Museums Liverpool, many of whom work quietly away from the gaze of the public to ensure that our exhibitions, displays and events can be produced and enjoyed by the public. Step forward all and take a bow!

Some more information on the Titanic ship model:

The model is the unique, full builder’s model of Olympic/Titanic. It was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast at the same time as the sister ships concerned. Originally named Olympic, it was used by White Star to advertise both ships and was originally fitted with internal lighting.

After the Titanic disaster the model was altered to represent Britannic, the third ship of the class, which was sunk while serving as a hospital ship during the First World War. The rearrangement of windows on the upper decks was the most lasting change made. In the 1920s the model was altered again to represent the refitted Olympic.

The combined changes mean that the model now more closely resembles Titanic than either of her sister ships. Having later been displayed at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, the model was given to Liverpool Museums in 1951, and is displayed as Titanic.

The model was used for research for the British film ‘A Night To Remember’ in 1957.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Eastern was, in her day, the largest ship ever built. A truly ambitious project from one of the most famous names in engineering history, the Great Eastern was built to provide a ship that could travel all the way to Australia or the Far East without the need to stop and take on more coal. Despite this she was only used on the transatlantic routes, travelling to Canada and North America as a passenger liner, often departing from Liverpool and playing a part in the emigrant trade.

She was never that successful as a liner as she was bigger and slower than the other ships on the routes, having been built to go far further afield, her size and bulk putting her at a significant disadvantage. It was these very attributes though that led to her next role, another truly historic undertaking in engineering history much like the ship herself.

In 1866 she set out from Ireland for America once more but this time instead of passengers, she was carrying an immense length of cable. Her job was to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable and allow for the first time, instant contact with America. After her successful cable laying the Great Eastern returned once more to the Mersey and spent some time as a showboat and giant advertising hoarding for Lewis’s Department Store, as is shown in the top left picture. In 1889, 125 years ago this year, she was broken up here on the River Mersey but a part of her has remained proudly displayed in Liverpool ever since. Some fixtures and fitting were retained locally or sold at auction and in 1928 Liverpool Football Club salvaged a top mast from the ship to use as a flagpole and this still stands outside Anfield football ground today.

Silver Model of SS Great Eastern (1976.310.1)

Great Eastern’s many interesting and unusual local connections, alongside her role in emigration, made her the perfect choice for a new display in our Emigration gallery at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. Highlights include the ship’s bell and a beautiful silver model of her. The model was made for Sir James Paton by his employees, his father had been Captain of the Great Eastern from 1860-63 and Sir James himself had been born on board. Why not come down to the Maritime Museum and learn more about this fantastic ship along with the stories of the hundreds of thousands of emigrants who passed through Liverpool in search of new and brighter prospects.

“The last of the major pieces of work that I have done for the conservation of the builder’s model of Oceanic 2 was the making of three replacement guns, similar to Bofors guns, or 12 pounder Quick Firing guns.

Originally the model had eight guns but three of these were missing. Each gun consists of a barrel mounted on a cradle and fitted to a mounting. A shield fits over the barrel and is attached to the mounting. At the rear of the cradle there are details of control wheels with handles, a pitch indicator and a breach for loading. There are also two footplates for the operator.

The model’s original guns were made from brass and the barrels were silvered and then lacquered. The shield was also made of brass, the inside painted grey and the outside chemically blackened and then lacquered. The barrels were blackened by a deposit which could not be removed and the cradles and details were affected by varying amounts.

Three guns and cowls

Making the barrels was fairly straightforward but it involved cutting different angles on the lathe and making quite accurate measurements. The cradles were more complex with lots of small pieces being cut, filed and soldered together. This involved more soldering than I’d ever done before and because we only had one type of solder (so only one melting point) there was always the risk that everything would just fall apart, because heat is very easily transmitted by brass and a previously soldered piece could easily be accidentally unsoldered. There were a few parts which proved more difficult and occasionally frustrating, but eventually everything came together quite well.

Gun, showing the barrel, cradle and mounting

Because we don’t have the facilities for silvering I polished the barrels so that they were pale and bright then lacquered them to preserve this. Then they were painted black with matt enamel paint so they are not glaringly obvious. The cradles, mountings and footplates were not painted or lacquered but were allowed to darken by oxidation. The shields were painted grey inside and outside they were blackened chemically and then lacquered.

My replacements are the two behind the mainmast and the starboard one on the aft deck. It can easily be seen which ones are mine because they are not intended to look exactly like the originals, but they should not be so different as to stand out or attract attention from the others.”

On the day that many of us will be raiding the fridge for the remains of Christmas dinner, Chris Moseley, head of ship and historic models conservation at National Museums Liverpool, has a very creative suggestion for what to do with some of it:

“At Christmas we all wonder what to do with the turkey leftovers – turkey sandwiches, curried turkey or turkey ship model?

This novelty model, which was made in 1982 by John Foran, a retired Lieutenant, uses a turkey breast bone for the hull. Looking like a ghost ship from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ it is nicely rigged, complete with ratlines and blocks, but without sails. I particularly like the large lantern at the stern.

There is a long tradition of sailors making models from animal and whale bones, these were bartered in ports around the world.

This is one of the more unusual models in the collection of Merseyside Maritime Museum. Another model made from unusual materials is featured in this year’s advent calendar.”

“I’m still working on the final parts of Oceanic 2 and the parts I’ve just completed were probably the most enjoyable things I’ve done on the whole model, partly because of what they are and also because they are made up of so many different parts. These were two ‘cutters’: rowing boats to be used by the ship’s crew.

First of all I made the two shells of the boats (116 mm long) using ‘Quebec yellow pine’ because it’s quite easily carved and it starts to let light through as it is carved to the right thickness (but I used a thickness gauge as well). I carved the outside of both boats to get them the same before carving the inside, trying to get the bottoms as flat as I could so that the planking could be put in. The hulls were sanded smooth before being painted white with enamel paint.

Before conservation

The planking, seating and gratings were made using Degama as were the oars – (64 mm long) four for each cutter. These pieces were all coloured with gouache before being varnished with satin acrylic varnish. The hulls were varnished with satin acrylic varnish modified with black and yellow gouache to lessen the brightness of the white. Then the planks were glued in as were the seating and grating. Lastly the ship’s name and port of registration were written on using a mapping pen and Indian ink, together with the White Star flag symbol (in red paint) and the boat’s number.

Blocks, ropes, lengths of cable and griping spars were all made. Gripes were made from 2.5mm wide ribbon painted black with matt enamel paint. Then the griping spars were tied on, the cutters were suspended from the davits and the gripes tied round to secure them.

A newly made model cutter installed on the Oceanic 2

I hope people can get as much pleasure from looking at these in place as I got from making them.”